Chapter 13, Verse 18
ज्योतिषामपि तज्ज्योतिस्तमसः परमुच्यते | ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं ज्ञानगम्यं हृदि सर्वस्य विष्ठितम् ||१३-१८||
jyotiṣāmapi tajjyotistamasaḥ paramucyate . jñānaṃ jñeyaṃ jñānagamyaṃ hṛdi sarvasya viṣṭhitam ||13-18||
Meaning
13.18 That, the Light of all lights, is said to be beyond darkness: knowledge, the knowable and the goal of knowledge, seated in the hearts of all.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna brings the description of the supreme reality to a luminous close. It is the 'Light of all lights' (jyotisham api jyotih) — the consciousness by which the sun, the fire, and the mind themselves are known. Lamps illumine objects, but what illumines the lamp's own appearing? The awareness that knows all light is itself the deeper, original light, and it is wholly beyond darkness, beyond all ignorance.
Remarkably, this same reality is at once the knowledge, the knowable, and the very goal of knowing (jnanam, jneyam, jnana-gamyam) — knower and known converge in it. And then the verse turns intimate: this supreme Light is 'seated in the hearts of all' (hridi sarvasya vishthitam). What the seeker pursues across scriptures and pilgrimages already dwells within. The grandest cosmic reality is not remote; it shines quietly in the cave of every heart, waiting only to be recognised. The journey outward turns, at last, inward.
💡 Key Takeaway
The light by which you know everything already shines in your own heart, waiting to be recognised.
Related Verses
क्षेत्रज्ञं चापि मां विद्धि सर्वक्षेत्रेषु भारत | क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोर्ज्ञानं यत्तज्ज्ञानं मतं मम ||१३-३||
kṣetrajñaṃ cāpi māṃ viddhi sarvakṣetreṣu bhārata . kṣetrakṣetrajñayorjñānaṃ yattajjñānaṃ mataṃ mama ||13-3||
13.3 Do thou also know Me as the knower of the field in all fields, O Arjuna. Knowledge of both the field and the knower of the field is considered by Me to be ï1the ï1 knowledge.
तत्क्षेत्रं यच्च यादृक्च यद्विकारि यतश्च यत् | स च यो यत्प्रभावश्च तत्समासेन मे शृणु ||१३-४||
tatkṣetraṃ yacca yādṛkca yadvikāri yataśca yat . sa ca yo yatprabhāvaśca tatsamāsena me śṛṇu ||13-4||
13.4 What the field is and of what nature, what are its modifications and whence it is and also who He is and what His powers are hear all that from Me in brief.
ऋषिभिर्बहुधा गीतं छन्दोभिर्विविधैः पृथक् | ब्रह्मसूत्रपदैश्चैव हेतुमद्भिर्विनिश्चितैः ||१३-५||
ṛṣibhirbahudhā gītaṃ chandobhirvividhaiḥ pṛthak . brahmasūtrapadaiścaiva hetumadbhirviniścitaiḥ ||13-5||
13.5 Sages have sung in many ways, in various distinctive chants and also in the suggestive words indicative of the Absolute, full of reasoning and decisive.